Take-off and leering- conveyeb fob sheet-glass forming machines



June27, 1933- GENTlL 18,881

TAKE-OFF AND LEERING CONVEYER FOR SHEET GLASS FORMING MACHINES OriginalFiled Aug. 6, 1928 @a fam for new Reissued June 27, 1933 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE I EUGENE GENTIL, OF PARIS, FRANCE, ASSIGNOR TO THEAMERICAN BICHEBOUX COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE TAKE-OFF ANDLEERING- GONVEYER FOR SHEET-GLASS FORMING MACHINES Original No.1,797,649, dated March 24, 1931, Serial No. 297,715, filed August 6,1928, and in Germany April 7, 1928.

In the leering of glass sheets formed by the so-called intermittentprocess, such for 1nstance as the Bicheroux process, certaindifliculties arise from the fact that the speed at 5 which the sheet isformed is much higher than the speed at which it is desirable to feedthe sheet through the leer. Various schemes have been proposed to effectaslowmg down of the travel of the sheet from the speed at m which it istaken from the forming pass to the speed at which it is to move throughthe leer. Many of these involve the use of a conveying bed formed of aseries of rolls on which the glass is supported and by the rotation ofwhich the glass is fed, with means for changing the speed of rotation ofa group of contiguous rollers from that corresponding to the high speedof sheet formatlon to the speed of leering, and driving the rollers 1nadvance of the change speed rollers at high speed and those behind atlow speed. This necessitates the use of a variable speed drive for thegroup of variable speed rollers, and has numerous disadvantages. Ipropose'to accomplish the necessary change in speed of the sheet, not bychanging the speed of rotation of the sheet carrying rollers, but .bybodily moving a group of rollers rotated at leering speed and on whichthe glass 1s sup- 0 ported in the direction of the feed of the sheet ata speed equal to the difference between the speed of sheet formation andthe leering speed. By preference, the movable rollers are arranged toreceive the sheet from the forming machine while moving as a whole atthe desired speed, and at the termination of such forward movement areadjacent to and in alignment with the leer, into which the 40 sheet willbe delivered by the rotation of the rollers.

For these purposes my invention consists in the construction,arrangement, and combination of parts as will be hereinafter de- 5scribed and claimed.

Referring to the accompanying drawingin which corresponding parts aredesignated by corresponding marks of reference,

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic section through an apparatus embodying myinvention.

Application for reissue filed July 7, 1931.

Serial No. 549,303.

Figure 2 is a transverse section on line 2-2 thereof.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic plan showing an arrangement in which thesheet forming mechanism is not in alignment with the axis of the leer,but is to one side thereof, and in which the take-ofi' carriage movesnot only in the direction of the axis-of the leer, but at right anglesthereto.

A represents a leer of any approved type having a conveyer therein forthe sheets, this beingin the form shown, constituted by a series ofrollers B driven by the longitudinal drive shaft at peripheral speeds tofeed the sheet through the leer at the desired low 65 speed. i

In front of the leer and in alignment therewith (Fig. 1) the take-ofi'carriage D is movable on track E by a motor F geared to wheels G of thecarriage. The glass-receiving bed of the carriage has a movement inrespect to the carriage itself, the speed of such rotative movementbeing the same as the leering speed. In the structure shown theglass-receiving surface of the carriage is formed by rollers H drivenfrom the motor I.

Mounted on a frame K straddling the carriage is the sheet formingmachine L. As shown this is of the Bicheroux type, and comprises therolls M and N, having a forming a pass 0 between them, and having areceiver P in advance of the rolls. It also has an apron Q, down whichthe sheet formed at the pass slides, and by which it is delivered to theglass-receiving surface of the carriage which passes under it.

Vith this construction of parts, the carriage with its rolls H inrotation, is moved under the forming machine towards the leer, asrepresented by the arrow,the speed of carriage movement being such thatby such movement and the rotation of the rollers H, the sheet will beremoved from the forming machine at the rate it is formed, or ifpreferred, at a slightly higher rate, which is permitted by theplasticity of the sheet. The continued movement of the carriage bringsit against the front of the leer and in registration with the leerconveyer formed by the 100 rollers B, before the head of the sheet hasin the direction of sheet delivery, the rebeen brought by the rotationof the rollers H, to the forward end of the carriage. The continuedrotation of the rollers H then feed the sheet onto the rollers C of theleer conveyer, and when such delivery has been completed, the carriagemay be run back to its initial position under the forming machine toreceive a new sheet.

In so far as concerns the broader aspect of my invention, the carriagemay, after receiving the sheet be moved in any direction to bring itinto alignment with the leer during the time the sheet is beingdelivered from it to the leer. Thus, as shown in Figure3, the formingmachine and the carriage when receiving the sheet may be to one side ofthe axis of the-leer, and be brought by a lateral movement intoalignment with the leer after the sheet has been fully formed. The pathdescribed by the forward end of the carriage under such an arrangementis represented by the dotted direction line in Figure 3. Thisarrangement is desirable in that it permits the'leer to be fed by twocarriages and thus permits a closer distribution of sheets in the leerconveyer than would otherwise be possible.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is,

1. The combination with a sheet glassforming machine, of a take-offcarriage therefor having a glass-receiving surface movable in respect tothe carriage, and means for moving, in the direction of sheet delivery,the receiving surface of the carriage, "and the carriage, in respect tothe forming machine and for moving in the direction of sheet deliverythe receiving surface of the carriage in respect to the carriage.

2. The combination with a sheet glassforming machine, of a take-offcarriage therefor having a glass-receiving surface movable in respect tothe carriage, and means for moving, in the direction of sheet delivery,the receiving surface of the carriage in respect to the carriage, andthe carriage in respect to the forming machine, the sum of the speeds ofsuch movements being substantially equal to the speed of sheetformation.

3. The combination with a sheet glassforming machine, of a take-offcarriage therefor having a glass-receiving surface movable in respect tothe carriage, such surface being formed of a series of rollers, meansfor rotating the rollers, and means for mov ing the carriage in thedirection of sheet formation and in respect to the forming machine.

4. The combination with a sheet glassforming machine, of a take-offcarriage therefor having a glass-receiving surfacecomprising drivenrollers rotating during the reception of a sheet, means for moving,

ceiving surface of the carriage and the carriage in respect to theforming machine, the sum of the peripheral speed of the rollers and thespeed of movement of the carriage during sheet formation beingsubstantially equal to the speed of sheet formation.

5. The combination with a sheet glassforming machine, of a leer-conveyerhaving a. conveying speed less than of sheet formation, a take-01fcarriage for the forming machine having a sheet-receiving surfacemovable in respect to the carriage, means for moving, in the directionof sheet delivery and during sheet delivery, the receiving surface inrespect to the carriage at leering speed, and for moving the carriagetowards the leer conveyer.

6. The combination With a sheet glassforming machine, of a leer-conveyerhaving a conveying speed less than of sheet formation, a take-oflcarriage for the forming machine having a sheet-receiving surfacemovable in respect to the carriage, means for moving at leering speed inthe direction of sheet formation the receiving surface in respect to thecarriage, and for moving the carriage towards the leer, the sum of thespeeds of such movements being substantially equal to the speed of sheetformation.

7 The combination with a sheet glassforming machine, of a leer conveyerhaving a conveying speed less than that of sheet formation, a take-offcarriage for the forming machine having a series of glass-receivingrollers thereon, means for rotating the rollers at leering speed, andmeans for mov-' ing the carriage in the direction of sheet delivery, andfor bringing it into co-operative relation with the leer conveyer.

8. The combination with a sheet glassforming machine, of a leer conveyerhaving a conveying speed less than that of sheet formation, a take-offcarriage for the forming machine having a series of glass-receivingrollers thereon, means for rotating the rollers at leering speed, andmeans for moving the carriage in the direction of sheet delivery, andfor bringing it into co-operative relation'with the leer conveyor, thesum of the peripheral speed of the rollers and the speed of movement ofthe carriage during sheet formation being substantially equal to thespeed of sheet formation.

9. The combination with a sheet glass forming machine of a take-offcarriage therefor having a glass-receiving surface movable in respect tothe carriage and means for moving both the receiving surface of thecarriage and the carriage in respect to the forming machine and formoving in the direction of sheet delivery the receiving surface of thecarriage in respect to the carriage.

10. The process of producing sheet glass, consisting in first formingthe sheet, laying porting surface into an annealing chamber.

11. The process of producingsheet glass, consisting in first forming thesheet, laying the sheet as it is formed upon a supporting surface,carrying said surface bodily forwardly to receive the sheet thereupon,simultaneously imparting a second movement to said supporting surfaceindependently of its forward bodily movement, and in stopping the bodilymovement of said surface while continuing the second movement 'to effecttransfer of the sheet therefrom into an annealing chamber.

12. The process of producing sheet glass, consisting in forming thesheet at a rela tively high rate of speed, laying the sheet .as it isformed upon a supporting surface,

simultaneously imparting to said supporting surface asthe sheet is laidthereupon two different independent movements both tending to advancethe sheet forwardly, the combined speed of the two independe'ntmovements "of said' surface being substantially, equal tot-hespeed offormation of the sheet, and in subsequently stopping one of saidmovements only While continuing the other movement to deliver the sheetforwardly at a relatively slower speed from said supporting surfaceintoan annealing chamber.

.13. The process of producing sheet glass,

consisting in forming the sheet at a relatively lugh rateof; speed,lay1ng the sheet as 1t 1s formed uponja conveying means, carryingsaldconveylngmeans bodily forwardly to receive the sheet thereupon,simultaneously driving said conveying means independently of its bodilymovement but in the same direction, the combined speed of said bodilymovement and driving movement being substantially equal to the speed offormation of the sheet, and in substantially stopping the formed upon asurface, having both translatory and rotative motion, the combinedtranslatory speed and rotative speed of said surface being substantiallyequal to the speed of formation of the sheet, and in subsequentlyfeeding the sheet into an annealing chamber at a speed equal to therotative speed only of the surface.

EUGENE GEN TIL.

bodily movement only of said conveying means while continuing the.driving move ment to deliver the sheet forwardly at a relatively slowerspeed from said conveying means into an annealing chamber.

14. The process of producing sheet glass, comprising first forming asheet, laying the sheet'as it'is formed upon a surface having bothtrauslatory and rotative movement, and in subsequently stopping thetranslatory movement While continuing the rotative movement of saidsurface to effect the transfer of the sheet therefrom into an annealingchamber. 7

15. The processof-producing sheet glass, comm-Isis": forming a sheet ata relatively rapid rate ofspeed, laying the sheet as it is

